Ketamine use has been identified as an emerging crisis in Liverpool and is associated with severe, life-altering harms to people’s physical health and mental wellbeing
04:00, 29 Mar 2026
Lilith White wants to raise awareness about the dangers of ketamine use(Image: Liverpool ECHO)
After years of ketamine use, Lileth White was able to break the cycle of daily use, but that routine has now been replaced by pain management, an ongoing effort to relieve the debilitating physical and mental health harms caused by her addiction.
Lilith, 28, remembers the very first time she tried ketamine, putting it down to youthful curiosity and a sense of adventure, but as she reflected later in life, it was more complicated than that. She said: “The reason I became addicted to ket is because I have always struggled with my mental health, and ket made me feel able to do life, as well as being able tolerate myself.
“I became the most chill person ever, but I had mental health issues, and when I’d reached out for help, I found there was very little out there that was available to me. So when I discovered ket, that was it, I found what I needed. It was something to keep me happy and tranquilized.”
Lilith is speaking out in an attempt to raise awareness about the dangers of ketamine use, but also highlight the importance of increasing the availability of support services, targeted at people going through addiction and recovery.
She added: “Because of my mental health issues and diagnosis of ADHD, having a brain like mine can be painful. In self-medicating over time, I’d just destroyed my physical body and further damaged my mental wellbeing.
“I started trying to get help with coming off ket four years ago, but like so many others, I didn’t get the support I needed.
“As a result of what ket has done to my body, I am in physical pain all the time now and it’s a struggle getting through the days and being able to function properly.
“This is why I am sharing part of my experience because I want people to know how devastating ket can be, and I want young people to be fully aware of the consequences because in the end, it’s permanently life-changing, and I don’t want anymore people to go through what I’m going through now.
Lilith White with her pet dog Hades(Image: Andrew Teebay Liverpool Echo)
“It’s not just a case of coming off it and living your best life. The damage sticks and stays with you, and that’s after you try to find support because that’s a whole other challenge.”
Earlier this month, Liverpool City Council (LCC) launched a multi-partner action plan to address the emerging crisis of ketamine use in the city. It came after the latest figures showed most first-time ketamine users in Liverpool are aged between 14 and 16, and detailed the long-lasting health impacts of ketamine use on the human body.
Unlike other substances, where established pathways already exist, ketamine presents further challenges including patterns of use, rapid escalation, and serious and fast-developing harms, including bladder and urinary damage. As a result, the city’s health experts have highlighted the need to shift towards prevention and early intervention.
Liverpool’s action plan sets out a framework for awareness campaigns, school engagement, peer-led support, strengthened treatment pathways, safeguarding work, and coordinated monitoring to track the impact of ketamine use and improve outcomes for people caught up in ketamine addiction.
Professor Matt Ashton, Liverpool’s director of public health, said: “It is so important to remember that you’re talking about real people and people’s lives and harm that they are experiencing. Poor physical health and poor mental health sits underneath each and every one of those statistics.”
He added: “When you hear the real life stories, they’re quite shocking and people in significant pain, not really knowing how to deal with the pain, sometimes needing medical interventions like bladder removal, struggling to mix with their friends, to socialise, to do the things that they were doing previously.”
Expanding on that message was James Mahwinney, the ketamine lead for RIVER Drug and Alcohol Service. He said: “We’ve also got to send another message to say for those who are using less frequently.
A rise in illegal use of ketamine has prompted the creation of a task group(Image: Copyright Unknown)
“When you maybe start to experience some of the physical health impacts that ketamine can bring, that you’re accessing care and support and treatment earlier on, not when it’s too late, which is what we’ve seen a pattern of, [with] people coming into us in crisis when they’ve got significant health problems.”
For people like Lilith, who have been experiencing ketamine-related health problems for several years, it’s clear that support has not always been the most accessible. As an example, she points to the difficulties in pain management and the historic lack of specialised services available in Liverpool.
Lilith cites a recent interaction with her local GP practice, and a request for an alternative prescription to help manage her pain relief. In an email seen by the ECHO, the practice outlines its reasoning for refusing the request and its reluctance to prescribe another addictive drug, recommending a referral to a gynaecologist.
However, Lilith said this response shows the difficulty of her position, adding: “I’ve already seen a gynaecologist when I went to A&E in Whiston a few weeks ago, and they then referred me back to my GP.
“I keep getting referred to places and then those people end up referring me back. What am I supposed to do when I’m in too much pain to make it to appointments I’ve been referred to?
“I don’t need help coming off ket, I can go without because I’ve broken the cycle of daily addiction, but I end up doing it once every few weeks because I spend so much time in pain that I cannot do anything or even look after myself.
“It gets to a point where I think f**k it, I need to take my dog on a proper walk, I need to sort my washing out and dishes, and just do normal people things. If I had access to the right pain relief, I would have no need to use ket at all ever again.
“I have been trying to get help for years, not just for physical health but for mental health, but it goes nowhere and in the end, like so many others, you’re left with nowhere else to turn.”
Responding to some of the issues raised by Lilith, including her feelings on the lack of support available to her, a Liverpool City Council spokesperson told the ECHO: “Ketamine‑related harm is a growing concern across Liverpool, with increasing use among young people and adults and more frequent health complications.
Lilith White wants to raise awareness about the dangers of ketamine use(Image: Andrew Teebay Liverpool Echo)
“To respond to this, the Liverpool City Council and the wider Liverpool Combatting Drugs Partnership have introduced the Reducing Ketamine Harms Action Plan, bringing together the NHS, RIVER Drug and Alcohol Service, and local organisations to strengthen prevention, improve early identification and expand access to specialist support. This includes a dedicated clinical model within RIVER to ensure joined‑up, robust care.
“We know that navigating services can be difficult, especially for people managing pain, health issues, or dependency. A key aim of the plan is to make it easier for residents to reach the right support quickly, with clearer pathways, fewer barriers and a more coordinated, compassionate system.
“Partners across the city are working together to ensure people affected by ketamine‑related harm receive the treatment, care, and dignity they deserve. Anyone struggling is encouraged to reach out to RIVER for help and advice.”
Lilith hopes the LCC’s response indicates a sea change in how public services respond to the ketamine crisis in the city, and the country as a whole. She added: “I wish my younger self knew what I know now. If I could go back in time, I’d be screaming at myself to never go near it.
“I’d really like to see a lot more awareness and education out there that is actually factual, not just fear mongering, because that just doesn’t help.
“People can argue as much as they want to say that addiction is a personal choice. OK, you’re half right there and you’re half wrong, because it is a personal choice to take a drug in the first place, a personal choice to experiment, but you need to ask who that person is, how old are they, how vulnerable they are, do they have the capacity to understand what they’re doing?
“Some people end up taking drugs because they’ve had an operation, so it gets prescribed to them, then they fall into addiction from that. Some people end up actually being forced to take drugs in a traumatic way. There are many different ways that people end up taking drugs.
“Sometimes that turns into the disease of addiction because it is an illness. Nobody wants to actually be an addict.
“There needs to be more of a different approach, a calmer approach, a more accepting approach to people suffering addiction, and it’s encouraging to see more support services being planned.”